Friday, August 10, 2012

John Jones

The date was June 1, 1988. Summer was just around the cor­ner. All
indications were that it was going to be a hot one in the Pacific
Northwest, particularly in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where the cities
of Eugene and Springfield are located. With temperatures in the
mid-to-up­per-80s, the magnolias and roses were already beginning to
show their varied colors along the busy streets, in residential yards,
and especially around public buildings.
It was just such a peaceful scene that several members of the
Springfield Police Department were dispatched to later that same day,
except that it was on low­er ground near a water-filtration plant. They
weren’t there, however, to listen to the treetops stirring with the
whisper of a cooling breeze. They had been called there to investigate
the unnerving dis­covery of a young woman’s body, and their presence
soon created movement from the curious transients in the nearby forest
camps.
Captain Jerry Smith, who headed the investigation under the direction
of Springfield Police Chief Rob DeuPree, was among the first to
arrive. He briefly observed the body, noted that the wo­man was
probably in her late teens, and then directed officers from his
department to cordon off a large area around the corpse. He, along with
other investiga­tors, then set about determining the di­mensions of
the crime scene.
The woman, observed Smith, was only partially clad. Her clothing was
no­where to be found. She wasn’t wearing any jewelry, which seemed odd
for a woman of that age, and there was no purse or wallet on or near
the corpse, another oddity.
A gut feeling told him that this wasn’t a sexual assault; it just
didn’t look like one. But, he couldn’t help asking, why was the victim
only partially clad and where were the missing clothes? Why would the
perpetrator take them? Al­though he didn’t really expect to find the
missing clothes, Smith nonetheless in­structed a couple of officers to
search beyond the perimeters of the crime scene just in case the killer
or killers had left any items behind. They were also told to flush out
and question any hoboes living in the area.
After photographs of the victim were taken, a Lane County deputy
medical examiner made his preliminary observa­tions. Among the things he
noted was that the victim bore marks and abrasions on her neck. He
suspected that the hyoid bone was fractured or crushed, often an
indication of strangulation. He also ob­served discoloration of the neck
and face, as well as a swollen protruding tongue, which also supported
his theory as to the cause of death.
Postmortem lividity on the undermost portions of the victim’s body
indicated that she had been killed where she was found. He agreed with
Smith’s opinion that it didn’t appear she had been sexu­ally assaulted.
He said, however, that laboratory tests would have to be con­ducted to
make certain.
After Oregon State Police (OSP) crime lab technicians completed their
examination of the victim’s body, the corpse was placed inside the
body bag and transported to the Lane County Morgue in Eugene.
Although they had conducted a grid search of the area and were fairly
cer­tain that they hadn’t missed anything, the probers went over the
designated crime scene again just to be sure. But night soon drew down
on the investiga­tors like a black cowl so they packed up their gear and
called it a day.
The next day was almost as hectic. The lawmen rounded up what few
hoboes they could find for questioning, but the cops quickly decided
that none of those questioned knew anything about the homicide.
Following another search of the crime scene, the probers decided that
any additional effort in this area would only be futile. It appeared
that there was nothing in the woods which could point them toward a
suspect, and no one asso­ciated with the investigation would say what
evidence, if any, had been found.
Meanwhile, an autopsy of the vic­tim’s body by Dr. Frank Ratti, Lane
County Medical Examiner, revealed that she did in fact die from
strangulation. It appeared she had been choked, and at some point a
thin, solid item had been pressed against her throat with great
pressure. Ratti did not speculate on what that item may have been. A
published newspaper account reported that she had also been struck in
the head by a heavy object.

Usually, Jane (or John) Doe cases are the hardest to solve because
the sleuths don’t have a satisfactory place to begin their probe,
specifically a name upon which they can lay their foundation and begin
building a case. But to the surprise of the investigators, significant
progress was soon made along those lines.
By the following day the homicide probers had made at least a
tentative identification of the forest victim after inquiries were made
by concerned relatives of Melissa Ann Meyer, 19, free Seattle. The age
and physical description provided by the inquiries certainly fit that
of the victim prompting Lane County authorities to request that Meyer’s
dental records be sent to them.
Shortly after the records arrived, positive identification was made.
With the woman’s identity the probers now, at least, had their first
significant lead. From this simple discovery they could begin tracing
the young woman’s move­ments during the last hours of her life by
contacting those who knew her, and from that, with any luck, they were
hopeful they could eventually focus on a suspect.
The Springfield investigators soon learned that Melissa, adopted as a
child, had moved to Eugene, a college town (home of the University of
Oregon), from Seattle in February 1988. She was not employed anywhere,
however, and detectives could find nothing to indicate that she was
attending college. Her last known address was an apartment lo­cated on
West Eighth Avenue in Eu­gene. She was last seen on May 30th in the
downtown area.
Prior to her relocation, the detectives learned, she had enrolled in a
drug treat­ment program in Seattle. By interview­ing Meyer’s
acquaintances, the detectives soon determined that she of­ten visited
Eugene’s downtown mall in the months prior to her death.
The mall was known to be frequented by prostitutes and was a favorite
hang­out for drug addicts and pushers. This could be where she met the
person or persons who killed her, theorized the detectives. But
Melissa Meyer, police learned, had no arrest record and no known
involvement in criminal activity. So why did she regularly go to the
mall? Just a people-watcher?
As news of the murder spread through the community, a chilling
ques­tion surged to the forefront. Could she have been a victim of the
Green River Killer? It was a question pondered by many, especially
lawmen. Like many of the 40 women (mostly prostitutes) killed by the
Northwest’s worst serial murderer, Meyer was found in a heavily wooded
area. And since four of the killer’s known victims had been found in
Oregon, it was a distinct possibility that had to be considered.
“We don’t have any evidence that leads us to believe she was a
prostitute or engaged in anything of that nature,”- said Captain Smith,
in an apparent refer­ence to the possibility that she had be­come a
victim of the serial killer. “There are a lot of things we don’t know
about her right now.”
Three days later, on Friday, June 3rd, a close relative of
17-year-old Candice Michelle Roy contacted Eugene police and reported
the teenager as missing.
Normally police wait anywhere from 24 to 72 hours before initiating
action on a missing-person report, time enough for a person who left of
their own free will to return home. But because of the dis­covery of
Melissa Meyer’s murdered body, police waived the waiting period and
promptly began investigating Can­dice Roy’s disappearance.
In their quest for information about the girl, investigators first
began by questioning her relatives. Among the things they learned was
that she lived near the community of Santa Clara, just north of Eugene’s
city limits, in a rural wooded area.
Like Meyer, Candice Roy had no ar­rest record and no known
involvement in criminal activity. She had just gradu­ated from the
Eugene School District’s alternative high school, police were told.
Over that weekend, Candice’s closest friends and relatives were
questioned by investigators in the hope that someone might be able to
shed some light on her whereabouts. However, nobody had seen her or had
any idea where she might be.
On Monday afternoon the search was over. Candice’s partially clad
body was found beneath a cluster of fir and cot­tonwood trees barely
four blocks from her home. The location was another wooded area,
approximately five miles from where Melissa Meyer’s body was found.
The relative who reported Candice missing provided police with a
positive identification. Declining to release de­tails, Dr. Ratti, Lane
County Medical Examiner, would only say the girl’s death was a
homicide. Lane County Deputy District Attorney Brian Barnes, however,
said the victim bore signs of “obvious trauma,” and a police source
close to the investigation said she had been strangled only a
relatively short time before her body was found.
But what did “a relatively short time” mean? Did it mean that she was
killed shortly after her disappearance, or did it mean that she had
been alive over the weekend? If she had been alive over the weekend,
where had she been? Was it possible that she’d been held captive
somewhere until her killer decided to do her in? If that had been the
case, why was her body found so close to home? Had she been held in the
area all that time?
The investigators knew from experience that the answers to those
questions, as well as many others that would arise before this case was
cleared, wouldn’t come easy, if they came at all.
Was the same killer responsible for both Melissa Meyer’s and Candice
Roy’s deaths? The public, naturally, wanted to know, and so did the
cops. Moving cautiously, assistant D.A. Barnes confirmed that the two
cases bore “certain similarities.”
“We have females of a similar age found in wooded areas,” said
Barnes. “But beyond that, the investigation is incomplete.” He added
that the Spring­field police and OSP were working practically around the
clock comparing evidence collected from the two crime scenes.
“The only common link we have is strangulation, and yet that’s a
relatively common means used to kill people,” said Springfield Police
Captain Smith. “Other than that, we really have nothing substantial at
this point to say the cases may or may not be related.”
Smith did say, however, that mem­bers of the Green River Task Force
in Seattle had been contacted. They had subsequently asked for specific
infor­mation about the two deaths to help them determine what
similarities, if any, existed between the Lane County vic­tims and those
attributed to the Green River Killer.
Later in the week, Dick Larson, spokesman for the Green River Task
Force, dispelled rumors that the infa­mous serial killer may have been
in­volved.
“There are young women found dead all over this country and we aren’t
naive enough to believe that the Green River Killer is the only person
who murders young females and leaves them out­side,” said Larson.
“There is nothing at this point to link the murder or murders in Oregon
with our investigations. There would he absolutely no reason for us to
send anyone down there…to cut past all the blue smoke and mirrors,
we’re just not interested unless some­thing else turns up.”
Meanwhile, telephone calls poured into the district attorney’s
office, as well as the Springfield and Eugene police de­partments, from
concerned citizens, some of whom claimed to know who killed Candice
Roy. Whether they did or not remained to be seen, but at least
investigators had some leads to run down in her case.
One such lead placed them in contact with two young women who said
they knew who had killed Melissa Ann Meyer. The women told police that
the murder had been committed by their boyfriends, Jason Wayne Rose, 20,
and John Ray Jones, 17.
According to the information, Meyer had met Rose and Jones in
Eugene’s downtown mall where she had last been seen on May 30th. For
reasons un­known, Meyer accompanied Rose and Jones to a camp at a wooded
site where the two men had been staying. After killing Meyer, said the
witnesses, Rose and Jones removed several articles of clothing and
jewelry from her body.

The investigators knew that their wit­nesses were being truthful.
Certain in­formation they provided was consistent with the
investigation, some of which had not been released to the public. Thus,
they were granted a search war­rant for a mobile home in which Jones
had recently resided.
When they arrived at the mobile home, neither Jones nor Rose was
there. Nevertheless, the probers executed the search warrant and
literally turned the place inside out. By the time they fin­ished,
investigators had several items of potential evidence in their
possession, including an occult “spell book” which was supposed to
enable its user to com­municate with the dead.
As the case continued to unfold, the detectives learned that Rose and
Jones were heavily involved with the occult, and possibly satanic
worship. Along those lines they collected additional evi­dence,
including a pair of dice-like stones which had unfamiliar markings,
books for communicating with the dead and for summoning ancient gods of
evil, as well as several symbolic hand-scrawled items.
At first the Lane County authorities didn’t know what to make of the
occult items or even how or whether they could relate them to Meyer’s
slaying. Admitting that they were relatively un­educated in satanic
activity, the investi­gators decided to contact Sandi Gallant, a San
Francisco policewoman who has made investigating crimes related to the
occult her specialty.
Gallant helped identify the dice-like objects as “rune stones,” which she said are used by occultists to predict the future.
“She told us it looked as if the at­tackers killed this girl for a
human sacri­fice,” said Deputy D.A. Brian Barnes of Lane County. “It
turned out to be a mess of belief systems tossed into one very lethal
one…how the heck do you go about selling that to a jury of sensible
people?”
Said one Oregon official about the general lack of knowledge of
police officers in matters involving satanic activ­ity, “Law enforcement
is only now educating itself to the reality of what’s been going on
for some time.”
“Many of us who now accept satanic abuse as real learned first to
accept the impossible through exposure to child sexual abuse,” said an
authority on sa­tanic activity. “It’s the same awareness-building
process taking place all over again.”
As the Lane County authorities con­tinued to investigate the Meyer
case, they learned more and more about sa­tanic activity. Among the
things they learned was that Satanism can generally be broken down into
four categories: re­ligious satanists; dabblers; generational
satanists; and self-styled satanists.Religious satanists such as Anton LaVey, who founded the
Church of Sa­tan in San Francisco in 1966, publicly condemn criminal
activity and stress that membership is not open to every­one. This group
is commonly known to be fond of placing nude women on the altar.
An Oregon member of the controver­sial church recently said that
member­ship is open “only to those with exemplary public and private
lives. No individuals of criminal, pathological, or otherwise unstable
characters are per­mitted to affiliate.”
Most of those who practice deviant behavior, including ritual
sacrifice, he said, have no discernible philosophy and usually
congregate in loosely for­med groups.
“They merely believe in evil as op­posed to good, in Satan instead of
God,” he said. “They believe if you ap­pease evil, you will get
something in re­turn. Most of them have read very little philosophy and
understand little about occultism.”Dabblers, the detectives learned, con­sist mostly of
teenagers who have some interest in the occult. Often these teens adopt
symbols associated with satanism and get involved with games such as
“Dungeons and Dragons,” and heavy metal music with satanic themes.
Dab­blers, the sleuths learned, sometimes progress through several
stages, many times leading to criminal sacrificial rites.

Generational Satanists consist of families, linked
together, who have been involved with satanic worship for gener­ations.
Primarily kept in a particular family or practiced through networks of
participating families, Generational Sa­tanists are generally more
secret about their worship rituals than the other sa­tanic groups.Self-styled Satanists include the likes of Charles Manson,
Richard Ramirez (L.A.’s “Night Stalker” killer), and Ad­olfo de Jesus
Constanzo, who led the band of devil-worshipping narcotics traffickers
believed responsible for 15 ritual murders in Matamoros, Mexico. It was
this group, Lane County detectives believed, that Jason Wayne Rose and
John Ray Jones fit in, prompting author­ities to agree that Melissa
Meyer may have been killed during a ritualistic hu­man sacrifice!
Meanwhile, investigators developed a lead which indicated that Rose
and Jones had fled the state. Following up on the lead, detectives had
reason to be­lieve that they had gone to Arizona. They updated a
previously issued APB, circulated the suspects’ photos, and re­quested
assistance from Arizona author­ities in tracking them down.
On Monday, June 13th, Rose and Jones were traced to Show Low,
Arizo­na, a remote mountain town located in the eastern portion of the
state near the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. Two Springfield officers
flew to Phoenix and were at the location within hours.
With help from local authorities, the investigators quietly moved in
on the suspects at a small motel where they were believed to be
staying. Just min­utes before 8:00 p.m. the lawmen flushed Rose and
Jones out of the motel and arrested them for suspicion of mur­der.
The following day Rose and Jones were arraigned on an extradition
war­rant in Phoenix. The two suspects chose not to contest extradition
and were re­turned to Oregon on Friday, June 17th. They were taken
directly to the Spring­field Police Department where they un­derwent
intensive grilling by detectives after agreeing to answer their
questions. The investigators did not provide any details of the
interrogation.
On Monday, June 20th, Jason Wayne Rose appeared in Lane County
District Court before Judge Frank Alderson for his arraignment. After
reading the charges, the judge told the suspect that it was his
constitutional right to make no statements about the case before
con­sulting an attorney.
However, Rose took the courtroom officials by surprise when he
readily ad­mitted that he had taken part in the strangulation murder of
Melissa Meyer.
After the brief court appearance, Deputy Prosecutor Brian Barnes said
Rose’s confession would not stop the case from going forward. He said
he planned to present testimony and evi­dence to a grand jury to seek
an aggra­vated murder indictment against Rose and Jones. An aggravated
murder con­viction, said Barnes, could result in the death penalty.
On Monday, June 27th, a Lane County grand jury indictment charging
Rose with aggravated murder and first-degree robbery was handed down.
The indict­ment charged that Rose tortured and murdered Melissa Meyer
“while delib­erately affecting a human sacrifice.”
Rose, despite his earlier admission of guilt in open court, pleaded
innocent be­fore Lane County Circuit Judge Dou­glas Spencer. The judge
appointed Terrence Gough as Rose’s attorney.
John Ray Jones, who turned 18 while being held at the Skipworth
Juvenile Detention Center, was subsequently re­manded to stand trial as
an adult, was transferred to the Lane County Jail, and was indicted on
identical charges. The indictment alleged that Jones strangled Meyer at
a transient’s campsite after first hitting her in the head with a
ma­chete. Jones, unlike Rose, would be pro­tected under Oregon law and
would not be eligible for the death penalty if con­victed, since he was
17 when the murder was committed. He also pleaded inno­cent to the
charges, and Eugene attorney Dan Koenig was appointed to represent him.
While awaiting trial, Rose continued to draw satanic symbols in his
cell at the Lane County Jail. The drawings consis­ted mostly of inverted
pentagrams with a goat’s head in the center. Investigators
photographed the symbols from time to time and would use them against
him at his trial.

Rose’s trial finally got under way in April 1989 to a
standing-room-only crowd of spectators in the courtroom of Judge
Douglas Spencer.
Prosecutor Brian Barnes told jurors during the two-week trial that
Rose and Jones took more than one hour to kill Melissa Meyer during the
course of a ritualistic human sacrifice. At one point, Barnes presented
the spell book and the set of “rune stones.” He said that Rose told
police he used them to predict the future. Barnes told the stunned jury
that it was after a “roll” of the rune stones that Rose decided to kill
Meyer, simply because the stones had told him to do so.
Defense Attorney Terry Gough called the prosecutor’s version of the
killing “nothing but smoke and malarkey.” He admitted that Rose caused
Meyer’s death, but most likely by applying a choke hold after Meyer
informed him that she was working for a rival of his. The type of work
she purportedly per­formed was not specified. Gough insis­ted, however,
that his client should not be convicted of aggravated murder be­cause
no aggravating circumstances were present in the slaying.
Prosecutor Barnes, on the other hand, argued that Rose committed
aggravated murder because he and Jones kidnapped Meyer, stole her
jacket, jewelry, and purse, and then tortured her, slowly choking her to
death by standing on a thin wooden spear laid across her throat.
At one point in the trial, Barnes brought in a VCR. He played part of
a videotape that depicted what authorities believed was an actual
human sacrifice. Barnes alleged that Rose had watched the tape less
than a month before Meyer was murdered.
At another point, Barnes placed a na­tionally recognized expert on
satanic practices, Patricia Pulling, on the wit­ness stand. He asked her
several ques­tions about items confiscated from the defendant.
The drawings and writings seized from Rose’s jail cell, said Pulling,
indi­cated a strong adherence to occult be­liefs. She testified that
the writings were consistent with someone who could have been controlled
by a desire to ex­plore deeper into the occult, perhaps to the point
of even committing a human sacrifice. Books like those found in Rose’s
possession after his arrest, said Pulling, were commonly used by
occul­tists to cast magical spells.
Pulling added that there comes a time when adolescents go beyond mere
dab­bling in satanic worship. They often pass through several stages,
she told the jury, stages that include drinking human blood, use of
dolls to cast spells, the desecration and robbing of graves,
ritu­alistic mutilation of animals and, ulti­mately, the commission of a
human sacrifice.
“Occultists believe that a human sac­rifice frees the life force
contained in every living body,” said Pulling. “They think they can trap
and use that force.”
On Thursday, April 20th, 1989, after six hours of deliberations, the
nine-wo­man, three-man jury returned with its verdict. They had found
Jason Wayne Rose guilty of aggravated murder and first-degree robbery.
Rose showed no emotion as the verdict was read.
“I’m sure he is very disappointed and he’s sad because he did not
believe he was guilty of aggravated murder,” said Gough after the
unanimous verdict. “He also feels some anger at things said in court he
felt were untrue.”
Under Oregon law, in order for a judge to sentence a defendant to
death, a jury must unanimously decide that the attack on the victim was
unprovoked, that it was premeditated, and that the defendant poses a
future threat to society.
During the trial’s penalty phase, Rose’s attorney did not deny that
Rose’s attack against Meyer was unprovoked. He did argue, however, that
Meyer’s killing was not planned and that a man­datory 30-year prison
term would effec­tively remove Rose as a threat to society.
“What is the value of human life?” Gough asked jurors. “You have the
power to kill him. But if just one of you says ‘no’ to any one of these
questions, Jason Rose lives. It’s as simple as that.”
On Tuesday, May 16, 1989, after nearly 13 hours of deliberations over
three days, the jury decided that Jason Rose should die for his crime.
Judge Spencer then sentenced him to death by lethal injection, making
Rose the 20th person sentenced to Oregon’s Death Row since
reinstatement of the death penalty by voters five years ago. Rose’s
death sentence, which now goes to man­datory appeals, was the first
time any­one had been sentenced to death in Lane County since 1927.
“Melissa would be happy,” said a tearful relative of the victim’s as she left the courtroom.
Less than a month later, John Ray Jones, dressed in a pale gray suit,
ap­peared before Lane County Circuit Judge Gregory G. Foote for the
begin­ning of his non-jury trial. In a case that doesn’t involve the
possibility of a death penalty, a defendant has the right to choose a
jury trial or a non-jury trial.
During his opening statement, Pros­ecutor Barnes described how
Meyer’s killing also met the criteria for aggra­vated murder, the
aggravated factors be­ing kidnapping, robbery, and torture.
“There was intent to prolong the suf­fering of the victim,” said
Barnes. “The defendant told the authorities in Arizona that in his
opinion she was tortured.”
Barnes also pointed out how Jones had waived his right to remain
silent, af­ter which he admitted that he had partic­ipated in Meyer’s
killing. Jones, said Barnes, told authorities that he had been trained
in first-aid and had checked the victim’s pulse, finding that she was
still alive before he stood on one end of the wooden spear that he and
Rose laid across her neck.
Barnes also told the judge that a dep­uty sheriff would testify that
Jones smiled and laughed when Rose made some “particularly callous
statements about the victim’s demise.” Barnes maintained that Jones and
Rose took an hour to kill Melissa Meyer as “they worshipped a god that
demanded human sacrifice from them.”
Dan Koenig, Jones’ defense attorney, argued that his client only
participated in Meyer’s killing because he feared Rose and was dominated
by him. Dur­ing most of that fateful evening, said Koenig, Jones did
not believe that Rose really intended to kill Meyer. Jones, he said, was
so concerned that he wanted to try and get her away from the campsite.
After the first time Rose choked Meyer, said the attorney, Rose twice
or­dered Jones to kill her. The second time Rose ordered Jones to kill
her, Jones picked up a machete and brought it down near the back of
Meyer’s neck, just as Rose had instructed, but he never actually hit her
with it, said Koenig. Jones, said the attorney, was fearful that Rose
would try and kill him after he fin­ished off Meyer.
“It was a master-servant relationship that Johnny Jones had with Mr.
Rose,” said Koenig. “John Jones did only what Jason Rose told him to,
directed him to, commanded him to…he did it under threat of his own
life.”
At one point in the proceeding, Ko­enig called a medical examiner to
the stand who testified that Meyer, “in all likelihood,” was dead
before Rose and Jones stood on the spear they had placed across her
neck.
On Thursday, June 8, 1989. Judge Foote ruled that John Jones clearly
in­tended to kill Melissa Meyer. He had committed acts -to that end,
but the most probable cause of the victim’s death was a choke hold
inflicted by Jas­on Rose. Foote then said he had found Jones guilty of
intentional murder and third-degree robbery.
On Monday, July 10, 1989, Judge Foote sentenced Jones to life in
prison, setting a minimum prison term of 25 years. He also fined Jones
$5,000. Jones is now serving his sentence at the Ore­gon State
Penitentiary in Salem, but it should he noted that the State Parole
Board has the authority to reduce the minimum sentence if it so desires.
As of this writing, the slaying of Can­dice M. Roy remains unsolved.
Al­though there were similarities between her death and Melissa
Meyer’s, there is insufficient evidence to positively link the two
cases. Oregon State Police are continuing that investigation.
Editor’s Note:Nick Blake is not the real name of the person so named in the
foregoing story. A fictitious name has been used because there is no
reason for public interest in the identity of this person.
Case update: Automatic and direct review by the Oregon Supreme Court
of Jason Rose’s conviction and sentence of death affirmed his
convictions but overturned his death sentence due to a jury instruction
error during the penalty phase of the trial. Prior to his resentencing
in 1992, apparently fearing that he would be again sentenced to death,
Rose negotiated an agreement with the State of Oregon in which he would
accept a “true life sentence,” that is, he would be sentenced to life
without possibility of parole. He has since filed a number of
additional appeals which have merely served to affirm his latest round
of sentencing.

14 comments:

I was a little kid when Candace was murdered in my neighborhood! Right near Madison Middle School on Wilkes Drive. I am not sure if she was killed in the tree area which was some kind of old orchard that was small, or the walkway that cut between a person's house with their yard which was sort of a mini-garden (or could have been grass in that day) and a fence. Also I did not know she was strangled, the neighborhood rumors was she was stabbed 6 times. Maybe a misunderstanding. Anyone else know? I grew up in Santa Clara man...this murder case has always bothered me and it sucks to know it is still unsolved. I bet those 2 satan worshipers did it. And it is complete BS they both didn't get the death penalty. They deserve to die. There have been about 2 other Satanic murders in Eugene/Springfield while I lived there as well. So many pagans. I am glad the downtown mall has been cleaned up since I last visited. I wonder why she hung out there though...guess just to hang with people and have fun. Only street people hung out there. Like transients and druggies.

By the way there is an article that says they still did not solve the case 25 years later. The detective states he learned that Roy was sexually assaulted. Also he says the 2 satanist guys who killed the other girl had absolutely no involvement in her killing. He says they were cleared. Here is the article link. https://www.questia.com/article/1G1-334191938/slaying-unsolved-but-unforgotten

Oh and does anyone know what was actually shown on the video cassette of a possible real human sacrifice? Was it legit? Where did they get it? You would think if it was real they would investigate that somehow....

He lives in Eugene n works the Eugene Springfield areas thru temp agencies....his wife is divorcing him due to finding out he is still involved in bloodletting and satanic type rituals and expressed a desire to do so upon release from prison. He shacked up with several other women who have recently been released from prison also, starting to sound like another Charlie Manson, as soon as Halloween hit he dyed his hair black to look like it did in his younger year at the time of his crime. This type of behavior is worrisome. I agree, everyone needs to beware...

Yes Johnny ray jones is out he was released on a technicality, the parole board made a mistake and couldn’t fix it before time ran out and it enabled him to be released....he got out June 29th, guards put him on bus to eugene, he stayed in halfway house for couple months then hooked up with couple girls he was cheating with his wife on while he was in prison and right after he got out of prison and he is living with them in an ugly lil trailer park in eugene and he is working temp jobs. He most likely did kill Candace Roy in my opinion because he gave his wife 3 different stories about how and what type of relationship he had with her before her death and while in prison, he also took the card from out of a deck of crime stoppers playing cards, that had her picture on it, and mailed it to his wife requesting her to keep it for him till his release date. Mainly serial killers keep momentous like that. He also wanted his wife to send her 19 year old daughter to go stay with him in eugene after he got his own place, without his wife, this sent up a red flag with his wife as well because Melissa Myers was also 19 at the time that he took part in her death. Kind of a scary thought if you ask me. There has been a couple girls gone missing since his release as well I’ve noticed. He also wanted to have very twisted sexual rituals that involved mixing semen and blood and drinking it, claiming that this would bond him and his wife for eternity, he wanted to draw the blood by biting the neck durin orgasm, these things along with unfaithfulness caused his wife to start divorce proceedings. The women he has shacked up with have alsohave children and have also been recently released from prison, it is in their comments on their Facebook pages. Hopefully he doesn’t become another Charles Manson.

The only reason Jason and Johnny were not found guilty of candace’s Murder is because they couldn’t find DNA or other evidence to prove they did.... it wasn’t because they were assumed innocent, they weren’t assumed innocent, they just couldn’t prove their guilt.

For anyone following this and really wanting to know for whatever reason, jones’s wife did file for divorce due to his twisted sexual desires and bondage ideas and blood lust and his unfaithfulness and the divorce was final in November 2017. He is still residing in Eugene and is shacked up with a female ex convict and planning to marry her next, he is still working only thru temporary agencies but often dresses it up on his FB page as if it is his actual job everytime he is temporarily placed somewhere to fill in. He was serving food at Quail Park Memory Care Residences In Eugene and then was doing housekeeping at Valley River. A little scary in my opinion having a satanic killer serving food in a place like Quail Park. He also had his new girlfriend get a Rottweiler pretty much away which is the breed he refers to as Satan’s breed due to the movie “ the omen “ and he has pictures of his new tattoo he just got of rune stones on his hand and he had his new girlfriend get the same tattoo on her hand as a way of bonding her to him which is something he seems to ritualistically try to do with every female he hooks up with. This shows he clearly has not changed his mindset from how he was before he committed his crime as both him and rose used rune stones to direct them in the murder of Melissa. His wife went thru much emotional and mental stress and is very relieved to be rid of the darkness and heaviness he had laid over her over World, anything she had that was his or had anything to do with him has been prayed over and cleansed and then disposed of, 3 guitars that he left in her possession were awarded to her in divorce and she has put them up for sale to make up for cost of divorce. Prayers for healing peace for that family wud be greatly appreciated.